DNA from Parsippany murder found at convicted killer's request

Convicted killer James Koedatich said DNA evidence from 1982 will prove he did not kill Parsippany teen Amie Hoffman in 1982.
Peggy Wright/ DailyRecord.com

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James Koedatich is led into Morris County Superior Court. Koedatich is trying to have his DNA tested against semen removed in 1982 from murder victim of Amie Hoffman.
Bob Karp/Staff Photographer
Convicted murderer James Koedatich in led into Morris County Superior Court. Koedatich is trying to have his DNA tested against sperm removed in 1982 from murder victim of Amie Hoffman. He claims he didn't rape her and that DNA testing will prove he didn't. December 13, 2017. Morristown, New Jersey(Photo: Bob Karp/Staff Photographer)Buy Photo

Koedatich filed a motion for DNA testing in November. The Morris County Prosecutor's Office has since located five microscopic slides containing sperm cells recovered from the body of Amie Hoffman, the murdered Parsippany Hills High School senior, according to court records.

The slides were in the possession of the Morris County Medical Examiner's Office since the autopsy, according to the Prosecutor's Office. According to state Attorney General guidelines and the Prosecutor's Office policy, evidence in homicides and sexual assault cases is retained until the convicted defendant's sentence is finished. Koedatich is serving two consecutive life sentences.

The finding of the slides is only the first step in the process of answering Koedatich's motion for DNA testing.

Superior Court Judge Donald Collester, sitting in Morristown, on Tuesday signed an order calling for the New Jersey State Police Office of Forensic Sciences Serology Unit to examine the five slides for the presence of intact sperm cells. The State Police unit cannot take any other steps, other than examination, without a further court order, Collester's order states.

Authorities said the examination is expected to reveal whether the samples have degraded or retained biological integrity so that further testing can be done. Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn and court-appointed defense lawyer Edward Bilinkas signed off on the judge's order.

A court hearing on how Koedatich's request for testing will proceed could occur in March.

Koedatich, now 69, was brought to a Morris County courtroom from Trenton State Prison in December for a hearing on how his DNA could be compared to semen samples taken from Hoffman's body.

"My client wants to make it perfectly clear," Bilinkas said as Koedatich sat beside him in December, "his position as it's been since day one is he did not kill Amie Hoffman."

Koedatich was also convicted in the murder of Deirdre O'Brien, 25, of Mendham Township two weeks after Hoffman was killed. He is not looking to have the O'Brien murder case re-opened.

Koedatich has the right to request DNA testing under a 2013 law that permits incarcerated, convicted killers to file motions for such testing. In 1982 DNA testing was not an established science that could be used in the courtroom. DNA was deemed scientifically reliable as evidence in New Jersey courtrooms in 1996.

Hoffman was abducted on Nov. 23, 1982 after leaving her job at the Surprise Store at the Morris County Mall in Hanover Township. Her body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was found two days later in a water holding tank in Randolph Township.

Koedatich was also convicted of kidnapping and murdering O'Brien on Dec. 5, 1982.

Prominent victim's rights advocate Richard Pompelio is in touch with Hoffman's sister and was in court in December for the first hearing.

"He's got nothing else to do in prison. One of the many jailhouse lawyers put this idea in his head," Pompelio said of the motion in December.

Koedatich's appeals of the two convictions have long been exhausted and he is serving consecutive life sentences at New Jersey State Prison.

The Hoffman and O'Brien murders were capital punishment cases, but the O'Brien jury was not unanimous in voting for death so his sentence was life. The Hoffman jury handed down a death penalty, but the Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new death penalty phase in 1988. The new jury did not vote for the death penalty.

Koedatich also served 11 years in prison prior to the 1982 murders after he was convicted of killing his roommate in Florida in the 1970s. According to news accounts, while serving that sentence he killed an inmate, which was ruled self-defense. He was released from the Florida prison in 1982 and returned to his hometown of Morristown, a few months before the murders, according to news accounts.